Economic Report for Australia

Economic Report
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Economic report
Question one
In the contemporary business environment, organizations, governments, and multinationals – either large or small are developing sustainable strategies to create long-term value by taking into consideration the economic, social, and ecological environment. Sustainability incorporates all initiatives that foster the longevity of the company while ensuring comprehensive benefits including social, economic, and health to all the audience. Today, sustainability is becoming prevalent among all companies across the industries. In reality, sustainability strategy is considered as the source of competitive advantage as well as the future of any business (Breuer, 2018). Ranging from implementing greener supply chain, reducing carbon footprint and wastes, reducing poverty, improving the social status of the citizens and consumers, reduction of harmful substances in food substances to competitive pricing – the organization is making social, economic, and health impacts (Breuer, 2018). For instance, Unilever has taken substantial commitments in procuring only organic oil and tea to reduce the effects of inorganic effects on the environment as well as health impacts on the consumers.
In this case topic, the Australia government focus on implementing sugar tax to reduce the rising rates of obesity and diabetes. Over the past twenty years, between 1995 and 2015, Australia recorded increased rates of diabetes and obesity due to the high adoption of westernized diets and lifestyle. For instance, adult obesity rose from 19% in 1995 to 28% in 2015, while non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus rose from 3.8% from 2011-2012 to 4.4% in 2014-2015. In reality, 20% of children aged between two and nine years, and 30% of kids aged between10-17, were overweight. In the same period, 8.8% of children aged 2-5 years suffered from obesity. These figures are significantly higher compared to other developed countries.
Consequently, these conditions have led to substantial financial impacts on the Australian government. Research shows that each obsessed person costs the federal government almost $1500 annually compared to those without obesity, while people with obesity and diabetes cost $1940 more. For example, in 2019, the government spent more than $11.8 billion, while the costs are expected to rise by $6.57 per year. In a similar way, productivity and tax revenues have been on the verge of falling. For example, in the year 2014/2015, the government lost over $418 million in productivity and $57 million in tax revenues.
Research shows that sweetened soft drinks provide high levels of sugars are considered a contributing factor to obesity and diabetes. It is estimated that a single bottle of sweetened soft drinks increases the total daily kilojoules in adults to approximately 11%. It is unfortunate in Australia the consumption of sweetened soft drinks has been on the rise. It is estimated the trend in the consumption of sweetened soft drinks is increasing at the rate of 30% year. As such, decreasing the consumption of these soft drinks can significantly reduce the intake of sugar and calories in the body – thus ma...